KARACHI - Five people were gunned down here on Monday while two bodies of the youth were found separately.
An activist of the MQM was shot dead in Orangi Town.
The victim was identified as Sarwar Abbas, 22. He was the resident of the same locality and was targeted when he was going to the market. Police said armed riders intercepted the victim who was also riding a motorcycle and opened fire.
The victim left his motorcycle and run towards the nearby shop to save his life, however, the culprits followed him and shot him multiple times at the shop and escaped. Police shifted the body to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsy.
SHO Ahmed Butt said the victim’s eldest brother, Haider, was also killed in the same manner in Orangi Town’s Nishan-e-Haider Chowk about seven months ago.
“The victim was affiliated with the MQM, however, we suspected that he and his brother were killed over sectarian basis.” Butt further added the police have also recovered empty shells of bullets from the crime scene.
Another man associated with the Dawat-e-Islami was shot dead in Orangi Town’s Chishti Nagar. The victim was identified as Shahid, 25. Police said the victim was working at the Zarri factory in the area. He was going to factory when two armed men riding a motorcycle shot him dead.
SHO Tasaduq Waris said both the incidents occurred over sectarian basis and most probably the same group of target killers were behind the incidents. A medical store owner and his salesman were killed in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Police officials said the owner, Muhammad Sajid, and his salesman Shams were standing outside the store when unidentified persons, in a car, opened indiscriminate fire at them. They were shifted to the hospital where they succumbed to their injuries.
Police said the target of the culprits was likely the owner of the store who was the resident of Old Sabzi Mandi area. The culprits targeted the store apparently over refusal of paying extortion money. No case has been registered.
A youth was shot dead in Bakra Piri area of Malir City. The victim was identified as Nasir Baloch. DSP Khalid Khan said the victim was sitting at a teashop near his home where two armed riders shot in his head and chest. The motive behind the incident has yet to be ascertained.
Separately, police recovered the bodies of two young men from Pak Colony area. Police officials said no mark of bullet or torture was found on their bodies. The victim believed to be drug addicts. The bodies were shifted to Edhi morgue, Sohrab Goth for identification.
Three people were wounded in a low-intensity explosion in Lyari neighbourhood on Monday evening. The injured persons, including Muhammad Ishtiaq, 28, Muhammad Zahid, 22, and Muhammad Abid, 30, were shifted to the Civil Hospital.
Following the blast, extra contingent of law enforcers reached the site and collected the evidence. They said unidentified gangsters attacked the fitness club situated in Khadda Market area of Lyari with the hand grenade. The culprits managed to escape before the arrival of the law enforcers.
Earlier in a day, at least six alleged gangsters were claimed to be arrested by the rangers during the raids in Lyari’s Nayabad area along with the weapons.